Chapter 173: Starborn clan, Merged Heaven clan. Yao Jun was completely unaware of what his carelessness had caused, completely immersed in his cultivation. After spending almost two months cultivating, he had already broken through to the late stage of the 3rd Mortal Earth, but he was forced to stop when he reached the very peak, only a small step away from the 4th Houtian Sky. With his cultivation having broken through, Yao Jun was free to put all his focus on carving the third channel. He had made rapid progress, his entire spine and all of his ribs becoming hollow because of the Qi that had dug through them, he was only missing the final step, fully connecting the new channel to his God Gate. One would expect his spine and ribs to become brittle after they became hollow, but because their marrow was now filled with Qi so dense it formed a liquid, they had gotten even stronger. But it had not been easy to hollow out his own bones. His entire body was drenched in sweat and blood, continuously trembling from the pain. After the first month, his back had split open, jagged pieces of his spine piercing through his skin. Crumbling The Nine Heavens was a very physically demanding technique, and even though Yao Jun's body was far stronger than other people's at his cultivation level, he was only just barely strong enough to carve the third channel. While gritting his teeth and enduring the pain of his back splitting open, he could not help but feel admiration for Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang. To not only come up with a technique like this but even cultivate it, how strong must he have been back when he was in his prime? The tendril of Qi that connected Yao Jun's spine with his God Gate was slowly becoming thicker and thicker, an overwhelming sense of power starting to fill all of Yao Jun's body. Once the tendril of Qi became as thick as Yao Jun's spine, it suddenly let out a bright glow. Facing the bright glow, Yao Jun's mind turned white, images starting to flow into his mind. The images showed a youth standing atop a tall mountain, pointing his sword at the heavens as he let out a loud roar. While Yao Jun was immersed in the images, studying the third sword technique of Heng Jiang, his God Gate flew back into his body. The God Gate released a pitch black energy, covering all of Yao Jun's back and slowly healing his wounds, the jagged pieces of his spine sinking back into his body. After spending a few hours studying the new technique, Yao Jun opened his eyes again, his gaze calm and his thoughts impossible to read. He had managed to get an elementary understanding of the third sword technique, Two Swords to Attain enlightenment. While the first technique was a purely physical attack, and the second a purely spiritual attack, the third technique was a mixture of both, simultaneously attacking every part of the enemy. Yao Jun had yet to test it out, but he was certain that the might would be overwhelming, if he were to give a single complaint, it would be that Heng Jiang had made the names of his techniques needlessly long. Yao Jun took a deep breath and stretched his body, his movements causing the murky Spirit Stones around him to turn to dust when he touched them. He glanced at the dust, shaking his head slightly. “There goes all my money. About two months have passed, so I missed the previous battle, better make up for it during the next one.” Yao Jun was uncertain exactly how much time had passed, but he could feel that it should be around two months. He could clearly feel that the stronger he got, the more time he had to spend on normal breakthroughs, absorbing Demonic beasts was simply faster. He did not waste more time, quickly standing up and leaving the shadows, his body appearing at the shore of the murky lake. The moment Yao Jun left the shadows, he could tell that something was wrong. The lake still released the smell of sulfur, but there was an additional sweet scent in the air, somewhat stinging Yao Jun's lungs. Yao Jun's eyebrows furrowed somewhat, activating both his strengthening techniques straight away as he sent his perception out as far as he could. Yao Jun was very sensitive towards all the elements he had control over, so as he sent out his perception, he found a spot where space was behaving strangely, folding around itself as it formed an invisible cocoon. The moment he found the cocoon, he put all his focus on it, his perception piercing through it and laying the inside bare to him. Inside the cocoon were three people, one old woman, and two male youths. They looked human, but their skin was as white as snow, and their eyes were almost double the size of a normal human eye, two pupils moving around within each eye. The old woman was the one who had the highest cultivation among them, reaching the early stage of the 5th Houtian Sky. Yao Jun was able to easily kill someone at the middle stage of the 5th Houtian Sky even before his recent breakthrough, so none of the people within the cocoon were a threat. But Yao Jun was not so foolish that he would simply charge over to question them, after all, they might have treasures similar to the talismans that Leylan had given him. Yao Jun raised his arm, pointing it at the distant cocoon. The cocoon suddenly started cracking, even space around the cocoon starting to crack, a loud grinding sound resounding out. After only a short moment, the entire cocoon collapsed inwards, the cracks in space around it turning into small tears that released a strong suction force. Yao Jun had used the laws of space before, utilizing both teleportation and spatial slicing, but now he had tried out a different part of the space laws, spatial collapse. When the cocoon collapsed, the people within were forced into the open, their faces dyed in horror as they looked at the tears in space around them. But Yao Jun had no intention of killing them, so the tears in space around them quickly started to stitch themselves together, the area quickly returning to normal. While the two youths were looking around in both horror and amazement, the old woman spotted Yao Jun. She opened her mouth and was about to warn the two youths, but she never got the chance to release her voice. The moment she opened her mouth, the shadows within her mouth turned into a thick liquid that blocked her throat. The shadows that her strange leathery robes produced were the next to turn against her, her body feeling like it had sunk into a mire as the shadows turned into a liquid that threatened to drown her. Her entire body was forced against the ground, the shadows beneath her turning into a swamp that prevented her from even moving her fingers. The two youths next to her fared no better, forced against the ground by the shadows that their own clothes had cast. After their bodies were forced against the ground and into the shadows, Yao Jun hardened the space around them, creating another layer of security for him if they did end up having something up their sleeves. Yao Jun let out a slight breath, amazed at the versatility that the laws offered, he then started walking towards the three people, his perception continuously sweeping the surroundings and making sure that no one else could sneak up on him. As he approached the three people, the liquid shadow in the mouth of the old woman dissolved, allowing her to let out a somewhat subdued and weak voice. “Senior, please have mercy, we did not know that you were cultivating here! We beseech you, please give the Starborn clan some face and spare our lives!” The voice of the old woman was hoarse and grating on the ears, Yao Jun also couldn't help but feel like raising an eyebrow when he heard the title she gave him. Senior? He was probably quite a few years younger than her, probably even younger than the two youths at her side. But how could Yao Jun know that age mattered little to cultivators, strength was all that mattered. If you were weak, you would be called junior, if you were strong, you would be called senior. Yao Jun had heard a little about this Starborn clan from Leylan, it was a clan that was a little weaker than the World Tree clan, but not by much. Seeing that the woman was about to continue talking, Yao Jun cut her words short with a wave of his hand. “I don't care about your lives, I only want some information. I will ask the questions, and you will answer. Why are you here, hiding within folded space like that?” The people in front of him had not done anything against him, nor did he know about any evil deeds they might have committed, so he was not bloodthirsty enough to just kill them. While he spoke, a strand of mental energy traveled from his body and into the mind of the three people, squashing all thoughts of resistance and forcing them to answer his question. The old woman's eyes glazed over somewhat as she started talking, her voice monotone. “Thanks to the fact that we can control the laws of space and excel at hiding, the Starborn clan sent us here to keep an eye on how the war between the World Tree clan and the Final Fire clan developed.” Yao Jun could not help but look at the three people with a somewhat strange gaze. They had sent these three to work as scouts? Weren't they a bit too weak? But what Yao Jun didn't know was that the laws of space were incredibly rare, so few clans were willing to send out anyone who could use the laws of space, preferring to keep them hidden and train them. He was also rather curious as to why the Starborn clan cared about this war, especially the war that was going on here, as Yao Jun had been told that its only purpose was to train the younger generation. “Oh? And why does the Starborn clan care about that?” The old woman shook slightly after hearing Yao Jun's question, seemingly trying to drive out the mental energy he had drilled into her mind. Yao Jun increased the force behind the mental energy, digging it deeper into her mind. Against people that were at the same level of strength as him, his mental energy was not very useful, but it was perfect for interrogating people weaker than him. The woman's resistance ended shortly, her eyes almost turning completely white as she spoke out. “The Final Fire clan has made several strange moves lately, even buying several young Chimera Beasts from the Merged Heaven clan and using them in the recent battles that they have fought with the various armies of the World Tree clan. The Starborn clan is worried about what the Final Fire clan might be planning, so they sent us to keep an eye on things.” Merged Heaven clan, another clan that Leylan had told him about. It was a clan that specialized in fusing and merging various species together, even merging parts of other species into themselves to increase their strength. Yao Jun was not too interested in whatever the Final Fire clan might be planning, something like that was too far above him. But he was rather interested in whatever this Chimera Beast was, as Leylan had not mentioned anything about them. “What is a Chimera Beast, and what sort of Chimera Beast did the Final Fire clan bring here?” Since it came from the Merged Heaven clan, and just by listening to the name, Yao Jun guessed that a Chimera Beast was something similar to a Demonic beast. But that was after all only a guess, so getting confirmation was for the best. The old woman continued to talk, giving a very short explanation. “A Chimera Beast is a special type of Demonic beast that is created by the Merged Heaven clan, it is an amalgamation of several different Demonic beasts. The Chimera Beast that the Final Fire clan brought here is of the Spider Hive type.” Yao Jun could not help but roll his eyes after hearing the words of the old woman, the answer she had given him was the same as giving him no actual answer. It seemed like he would have to be a bit more specific with his choice of words. “Give me more information about this Spider Hive type Chimera Beast.” Yao Jun did not know too much about spider type Demonic beasts, the only ones he knew about being the one living within the sacred land of the Demon race, and the one living in the hidden realm, within the hollow mountain where he had gotten Zhuyin. If the Spider Hive beast was made out of Demonic beasts like that, he could only shudder at the might it would be able to produce. “The Spider Hive type Chimera Beast is a fusion of countless spider type Demonic beasts, their poisons mixing together. It is called a Spider Hive because while the Demonic beast is controlled by a single mind, it can split into countless smaller entities that can all act on their own.” After hearing the old woman's explanation, Yao Jun's eyes started to gleam slightly. Just from what she said, even he could tell that this Spider Hive beast was truly suited for war. His mind started to quickly move. Since the Spider Hive beast was a type of Demonic beast, did that not mean he could absorb it with his God Gate? When the thought struck him, his lips curled into an ominous smile. “Spider Hive... I want you.” Yao Jun was only missing a single Demonic beast to complete his armor, he was truly curious to see what would happen once he finished it. At the same time, the Spider Hive beast seemed like a Demonic beast that would suit him, it was strong and even of an element that he did not have yet. Of course, beating it so that he would be able to absorb it might prove to be quite the challenge. Yao Jun glanced at the three people in front of him, his mind moving slightly. His mental energy surged out, drilling into their minds and ravaging their memories. He did not touch any of their other memories, he simply wiped away everything that contained him, making it so that they were completely unable to remember his existence. Once he had done that, he waved his hand, space around the three people distorting and sending them away into the distance. Once the three people from the Starborn clan were gone, he turned around and started making his way back to the camp. He had been gone for two months, so he was rather curious when the next battle would start. The quicker he could see the Spider Hive beast and learn of its strength, the better.